Sonny Chiba

A cult favorite among martial arts aficionados, Sonny Chiba was a formidable presence in numerous action films during the 1970s, including "The Street Fighter" (1974), which earned an X rating and grindhouse immortality for its extreme violence. Born Sadaho Maeda on January 23, 1939 in Fukuoka, Japan, Sonny Chiba was the second of five children by a military test pilot who moved the family to Chiba Prefecture during World War II. As a young man, Chiba excelled at a wide variety of sports, including gymnastics, and was expected to become a member of Japan's Olympic team, but an injury forced him to abandon that goal. Chiba shifted his focus to martial arts, which he studied under the legen... Continue Bio >>